New SIM card turns 3G phones into HSPA/WiFi routers

Mobile vendors Sagem Orga and Telefonica launched a SIM with an integrated WiFi router at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The SIM as WiFi hotspot is a neat trick. Telefonica and Sagem have embedded a WLAN modem in the SIM card. Sagem provides the SIM and the technology for a SIM toolkit applet running in the background while Telefonica, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies, broadcasts over High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) to provide WiFi Internet access to notebooks and netbooks.

Dubbed the "SIMFi", the WiFi enabled SIM can be used in any standard handset, which acts as a universal and interoperable HSPA WiFi router for any device.

"We strongly believe that, with its unprecedented functionality for wireless access, will significantly improve the user experience," explained Remy Cricco, technology innovation manager at Sagem Orga. "If customers can connect their notebooks to the web anytime and anywhere by simply using what they have with them most of the time and what is the most trusted secure device - the SIM card - adoption can be expected to be enormous."